Whilst many schools hold a special assembly or morning tea to mark World Teachers’ Day on Friday 31 October, I believe that a personal touch in showing appreciation is even better. This year I’m encouraging you to send a personal, handwritten note through the post to each of your teachers, at their home. The prevalence […]

Today’s post is from our “Leading a Happy School” newsletter. If you’d like to subscribe to receive our FREE monthly newsletter click here. Sometimes working in schools is a hard slog. There is pressure to get results, deadlines to meet, stressed parents with unrealistic expectations and the usual end of year demands. It can be […]

Highly regarded educator Professor Michael Fullan recently commented on what can be done in the U.S. to raise the profile of the teaching profession. The comments also have relevance to the respect shown to the profession in Australia. “When you look at Finland, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, all of which have high quality […]

In the recently released OECD’s Better Life Index 2012 report, Australia took the top spot as one of the world’s happiest countries. The report measured income, housing and life satisfaction to gauge the satisfaction or happiness of people living in these countries. I love the use of life satisfaction. Instead of thinking about work-life balance […]

Who is Your BEST Teacher? Is Billy Bloggs your best teacher? You know him, his class is always orderly, the students are on task whenever you walk past, his kids line up quietly before the lesson, he never sends any students to the office, there are never any parental complaints, he cooks the staff breakfast […]

John Hattie recently added to the debate about observing teachers and highlighted that ultimately what matters, is what students are doing during the lessons. Hattie rightly points out that much has been said and done about observing the behaviour of the teacher. However the ultimate gauge of the effectiveness of the learning experience should be […]

The Fastest Way to Improve Your School The fastest way to improve your school and boost staff, parent and student satisfaction is to identify and address the problems that annoy and frustrate people. One of my biggest frustrations as a Principal were the ‘car park’ conversations that occurred before and after school. At around 8.30 […]

Are You Getting Enough? I’m not sure whether the headline grabbed your attention because it doesn’t seem to fit with the usual content of this website or it hit a raw nerve! It’s important that we talk about this vitally important issue. Teaching is REALLY demanding. Jobs that work with people can be unpredictable. At […]

Lost Opportunity Last week my own children returned to school after the long Christmas break. The start was delayed by a day due to the flooding and storm damage affecting Queensland in the recent weeks. For Sarah and Michael the school year started on Thursday. We joked about how a short week would ease them […]

The 0 to 4 age group is paramount for brain development yet many children don’t receive the necessary support during this peak time. The significance of this period on brain development and academic success is clearly documented by Fraser Mustard. Mustard gave voice to three enduring messages: The years before 5 last a lifetime; It […]

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Whilst many schools hold a special assembly or morning tea to mark World Teachers’ Day on Friday 31 October, I believe that a personal touch in showing appreciation is even better. This year I’m encouraging you to send a personal, handwritten note through the post to each of your teachers, at their home. The prevalence […]

Today’s post is from our “Leading a Happy School” newsletter. If you’d like to subscribe to receive our FREE monthly newsletter click here. Sometimes working in schools is a hard slog. There is pressure to get results, deadlines to meet, stressed parents with unrealistic expectations and the usual end of year demands. It can be […]

Highly regarded educator Professor Michael Fullan recently commented on what can be done in the U.S. to raise the profile of the teaching profession. The comments also have relevance to the respect shown to the profession in Australia. “When you look at Finland, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, all of which have high quality […]

In the recently released OECD’s Better Life Index 2012 report, Australia took the top spot as one of the world’s happiest countries. The report measured income, housing and life satisfaction to gauge the satisfaction or happiness of people living in these countries. I love the use of life satisfaction. Instead of thinking about work-life balance […]

Who is Your BEST Teacher? Is Billy Bloggs your best teacher? You know him, his class is always orderly, the students are on task whenever you walk past, his kids line up quietly before the lesson, he never sends any students to the office, there are never any parental complaints, he cooks the staff breakfast […]